System and method for providing centralized management and distribution of information to remote users

ABSTRACT

The invention includes systems, methods, and software applications for centrally maintaining information and automatically distributing relevant portions of the information to remote users. In one embodiment, a central server stores the information, which is maintained on the central server. Periodically, or each time the server information is updated, the server identifies the portion of the information that is relevant to each user and downloads the relevant portion of information to each user, for example to a mobile device such as a Blackberry™. The invention may be used to maintain and timely distribute information related to emergency response procedures, sales or servicing schedules, and delivery schedules, among other things.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation and claims the prioritybenefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/953,449 filed Sep. 30,2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,601,049 issued on Dec. 3, 2013, which claimsthe priority benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 60/549,528filed Mar. 4, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to centralized management anddistribution of an organization's information, and, in particular,information regarding emergency response plans, procedures, and contactinformation, delivery information, and customer service information.

2. Description of the Related Art

Today, businesses and other organizations strive to improve theirpreparedness for the unexpected. Organizations recognize the importanceof continuing their business operations, communicating with personnel,and maintaining the safety of personnel during times of crisis. To doso, businesses and other organizations typically design and maintain aset of rules and procedures to follow in case of an emergency, such as afire, earthquake, terrorist attack, or other disaster. In the event adisaster strikes, companies, organizations, and institutions expecttheir personnel to follow the organization's emergency responseprocedures.

Effective emergency response procedures must be updated periodically. Tofacilitate personnel's awareness of the updated emergency responseprocedures and to ensure that all required measures are followedaccurately, an organization typically collects and organizes pertinentinformation for the entire organization and distributes it to a selectedgroup of individuals. Conventionally, emergency response procedures,tracking and reporting information, contact lists, and other informationrelated to emergency response are organized, printed, and compiled in aloose-leaf, paper-based binder or other type of hard-copy manual, andthe organization distributes the three-ring binders, and anyperiodically updated portions, to the personnel responsible forfollowing and implementing the emergency response procedures.

To implement such a system, a number of employees in an organizationhave to spend time creating, updating, compiling, and distributingmanuals and their updated portions to the relevant employees within theorganization. Distribution may be especially difficult if the relevantemployee is located offsite in a remote office, if the employee travelsfrequently or for extended periods, or if the employee's job requiresbeing out of the office or away from their desk, such as delivery orsales job that requires visiting customer sites or help desk personnelthat visit the offices of IT system users to fix their computerproblems. By the time the emergency-response-related information isentered, organized, compiled and distributed, some of the informationmay be outdated or obsolete.

In addition, the employees responsible for following and implementingthe emergency response procedures have to spend time on a regular basischecking to ensure that their binders or manuals contain the mostup-to-date versions of documents, contact lists, etc. The relevantemployees may neglect to timely update the information that pertains tothem, especially if they are busy, travel frequently, or spend littletime in an office. This conventional process of collecting anddisseminating information is time consuming, costly, and incapable ofproviding the most up-to-date information on a timely basis. It istherefore desirable to provide an automated system capable of deliveringin a timely manner the most current and accurate information, such asemergency response information, directly to the individuals responsiblefor using the information, such as the employees responsible forfollowing and implementing an organization's emergency responseprocedures.

Similarly, timely delivery of up-to-date information maintained at acentral location is desirable for other aspects of an organization'soperations as well. For example, the schedules and tasks for personnelthat travel to customer locations, such as service persons, repairpersons, or delivery persons, may be created and maintained at a centrallocation, such as a call center. Distributing and maintaining dailyprinted travel schedules to such personnel suffer the same drawbacksdescribed above for emergency response procedures, perhaps even more sobecause these travel schedules and tasks can change frequently and withno notice, as customers call in with new requests, cancel previousrequests, change the desired visit time of previous requests, requestnew tasks or services to be performed, or change the particulars of atask or location. Thus, it is desirable to provide a system capable ofcentrally maintaining yet timely delivering the most up-to-date andaccurate scheduling, tasking, and other information to the personnelresponsible for implementing the scheduled activities.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTLY CLAIMED INVENTION

Embodiments of systems, methods, and software applications consistentwith the invention collect and update information, such as emergencyresponse information, in a centralized location and automaticallydistribute at least a portion of the information to relevant individualsvia storage-capable wireless devices, such as a BlackBerry™ handhelddevice. In one embodiment, the centralized location includes a networkedserver and network site containing information needed by the offsiteindividuals. The information on the server is kept up-to-date by staffat the centralized location or through the network. The server sends thelatest information pertaining to each individual to that individual'swireless device soon after the information is updated at the centrallocation, and the wireless device stores the information so that theindividual can access it on demand.

In accordance with the invention, a system for providing centralizedmanagement and distribution of information comprises a central dataprocessing apparatus for maintaining a set of information for anorganization and for dividing the set of information into a plurality ofsubsets of information based on relevance to each of a plurality ofusers; a network, communicatively connected to the central dataprocessing apparatus, for communicating each subset of information tothe user to which the subset is relevant; and a user device,communicatively connected to the network, for receiving, storing, andpresenting the subset of information relevant to a user of the userdevice.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method, system,and software product for providing centralized management anddistribution of information, comprises the operations of storinginformation regarding an organization in a central apparatus; acceptingan update to the information; determining a portion of the informationthat is relevant to a user; communicating the portion of the informationto a device associated with the user; and storing the portion of theinformation on the device.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a system forproviding centralized management and distribution of emergency responseprocedures, comprises a server containing the emergency responseprocedures; at least one wireless device for receiving and storinginformation; and a wireless communication network for connecting thewireless device and the server, wherein the server sends a portion ofthe emergency response procedures to the wireless device when theemergency response procedures are updated; and the wireless devicereceives and stores the portion of the emergency response procedures.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a system forproviding centralized management and distribution of item deliveryinformation, comprises a server containing the item deliveryinformation; at least one wireless device for receiving and storinginformation; and a wireless communication network for connecting thewireless device and the server, wherein the server sends a portion ofthe item delivery information to the wireless device when the itemdelivery information is updated; and the wireless device receives andstores the portion of the item delivery information.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained bymeans of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary generic wireless mobile device;

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system that connects a database server and amobile device having wireless access;

FIG. 3 depicts another exemplary system connecting a database serverwith mobile devices;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary Access Rights Privilege and Security Matrixidentifying groups of access rights for different groups of theemployees;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process consistent with thepresent invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of another exemplary process consistent with thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An organization, such as a company, business, partnership, businessdivision, department, or section, may maintain all of itsemergency-response-related information in one database, for example, asan Electronic Continuity of Operations Plan (eCOOP). Such a database mayreside in a memory device, such as a semiconductor storage device,magnetic storage device, or optical storage device, among others, on amain central server supported, for example, by Oracle PL/SQL databaseapplication. The system may include a redundant backup server at aseparate location, mirroring the information on the primary server andavailable to perform its functions if needed.

The eCOOP may contain emergency response information, for example,procedures, instructions, tasks, contact lists, emergency planninginformation, and other emergency-response-related documentation. TheeCOOP may also contain a list of the employees authorized by anorganization to receive emergency-response-related information.

To enable an organization's employees to remotely receive downloadedemergency-response-related information from the eCOOP server, anorganization may provide each designated employee with a mobile devicehaving wireless access to e-mail or other wireless or remotedata-download capability, for example, a BlackBerry™ device. FIG. 1depicts an exemplary generic mobile handheld device, such as aBlackBerry™ 108. Each such BlackBerry™ 108 may be wirelessly connectedto a server where the eCOOP resides. Using his or her BlackBerry™ 108,an employee may remotely receive emergency-response-related informationdirectly from the eCOOP via e-mail or other data-download technique.Other wireless mobile devices, such as a laptop PC with a wireless cardor a Palm Pilot™, among others, may be used.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system 200 that connects a database server202 and a mobile device 208 having wireless access to e-mail or otherdownload techniques, which are well known in the art. In the embodimentshown, database server 202 may send a new or updated set of information,such as emergency-response-related information from an eCOOP, to anetwork server, such as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 204. In theembodiment illustrated, once the network server 204 receives new orupdated information from the database server 202, it forwards thisinformation to each individual mobile device 208 via the organization'sfirewall 206, a network (such as the internet 210), and a wirelessnetwork 212.

In one embodiment consistent with the invention, the database server 202determines the portion of the organizational information that pertainsto each user of a mobile device 208, and sends just that portion of theinformation to the device 208 of each user. Thus, a user's mobile device208 receives only the information relevant to that user. In the eCOOPexample, a user's mobile device 208 may receive and store emergencyresponse checklists for that particular user to implement, contact listsfor employees that report to that user and whom the user must call incase of an emergency, or the address of an alternate work or meetingsite that the user should report to in case of a disaster. Server 202may make this determination using a software application that considers,among other things, the user's title within the organization (e.g.,department manager), the user's designation within the system framework(e.g., regional emergency response coordinator), the user's primary worksite, an access control list, or other information regarding the usermaintained in server 202.

Although several of the described embodiments of the invention utilize adatabase to store information, those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that organizing the information in a database is not criticalto the invention. The information may be stored in any way that allowsit to be accessed, modified, and sent out to users, without departingfrom the principles of the invention. For example, the information maybe contained in a word processor file that may be the basis for ahardcopy manual, such as an emergency response procedures manual, or itmay be contained in a calendar file, such as Lotus Notes™ file.

Further, although many embodiments are described in the context ofemergency response information, one of ordinary skill will recognizethat the invention encompasses other applications such as outsideservice or sales call applications, inside service call applications(help desk), or item delivery applications. Many organizations mayemploy one or more of these and other applications, such as, forexample, the United States Postal Services (USPS), Federal Express,United Parcel Service, and other delivery businesses.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary system connecting a database server 302 withmobile devices 306. In the embodiment shown, an organization may use asoftware application, such as a “push” application, to forward, forexample via e-mail, new or updated information, such asemergency-response-related information in an eCOOP system, to designatedmobile devices. In one embodiment, the push is done automatically,without a specific request from the mobile device user.

More specifically, when a new or updated set of information, such aseCOOP emergency-response-related information, is ready for forwarding tothe mobile devices 306.sub.1 through 306.sub.x, the push applicationserver 302 sends a request to a software application residing on amobile device server, such as the Mobile Data Service feature of theBlackberry™ Enterprise Server (BES) 304, which were developed by theResearch In Motion Ltd. Company. In response, the Mobile Data Serviceacknowledges that it received the request, converts the contents of therequest, and passes it to BES 304. BES 304 compresses, encrypts, andforwards the converted contents of the request to the appropriate mobiledevices among 306.sub.1 through 306.sub.x. As shown, each mobile device306.sub.1 through 306.sub.x, such as a handheld BlackBerry™ device,receives the compressed and encrypted contents of the request via awireless network 308. Once the pushed information is received, eachmobile device 306 may send an acknowledgement of receipt to the MobileData Service.

In one embodiment consistent with the invention, an organization may usethe push application to download a new or updated set ofemergency-response-related information to its personnel's mobile devices306 every time new or updated information is entered into the databaseon server 302. In another embodiment, an organization may pushemergency-response-related information to mobile devices 306.sub.1through 306.sub.x on a regular basis, for example, every seven days,regardless of whether or not new information was entered into thedatabase on server 302. Once a mobile device 306 receives information,such as eCOOP emergency-response-related information, it may locallystore such information indefinitely or until overwritten by a subsequentdownload of updated information. Thus, personnel with a mobile device306 have continuous access to up-to-date information even if theconnection between the mobile device 306 and the wireless network 308 isdisrupted, the servers 302 or 304 malfunction, or the connection betweenserver 304 and the network 308 is disrupted. Periodically pushinginformation, such as emergency-response-related information, into mobiledevices 306, helps ensure that all personnel responsible forimplementing or acting on the information, such as performing emergencyresponse procedures, automatically and consistently receive up-to-dateand accurate information that is relevant to them.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary Access Rights Privilege and Security Matrix 400identifying groups of access rights for different groups of employees.To control access to a central database of organization-wide informationthat needs to be disseminated to certain employees, and maintain itssecurity, an organization may assign certain access privileges todesignated employees, for example, rights to view, enter, update, andmodify the contents of an eCOOP information database, or a deliveryinformation database, or a service call information database. In oneembodiment, an organization may have a tier system identifying differentcombinations of access rights for different groups of employees withinan organization. For example, as shown in row 402, an organization maygrant all employees designated as active users of the system a right toview the information related to all users in general, such as thecomplete set of emergency response procedures stored in an eCOOPdatabase. In one embodiment, active users may also have a right todownload such information on demand. In another embodiment, anorganization may restrict the viewing and downloading privileges ofcertain groups of its employees, effectively blocking certain areas ofthe database from access by specified groups of employees. For example,in an eCOOP-type embodiment, an organization may block from viewing anddownloading a portion of the contact list for all the users locatedoutside of the geographical area related to that portion of the list.

In one embodiment consistent with the invention, users have write accessto portions of the information in the main central database. Forexample, as shown in row 402, an organization may allow all the users ofthe system to change their own user profile, including information suchas contact information, name, phone number, and address of theirBlackBerry™, laptop computer, home computer, or other device that mayreceive and store information for them. In another embodiment, anorganization may prevent certain users from modifying their owninformation, or have users submit a change request to the personnelmaintaining the central database, who then make the requested changes tothe database.

As shown in row 404, system administrators may have the right to view,enter, delete, modify, and update any data contained in the informationdatabase. That right may include the right to add or delete users of thesystem and their contact information, such as their BlackBerry™ or othermobile device address.

As shown in row 406, headquarters administrators may have a right toview and modify data related to the headquarters. They also may have aright to add users and their contact information. An organization mayalso grant headquarters administrators a right to modify contactinformation of the existing users.

As shown in row 408, area administrators may have a privilege to viewand modify data related to their area contained in the informationdatabase. That privilege may include the right to add users of thesystem and their information distribution contact information, such astheir BlackBerry™ address or home computer address. Area administratorsmay also have a right to modify contact information of the existingusers of the system.

As shown in row 410, organization administrators may have a right toview and modify data related to the organization. They also may have aright to view and modify a user's level of access and add new users andtheir contact information. In one embodiment consistent with theinvention, additional levels of administrators with differentcombinations of access rights may be added by the organization. Forexample, an organization may designate department administrators ashaving rights to view, modify, and add information for new users fromtheir department.

In one embodiment consistent with the invention, to enhance theinformation content and usefulness for each user, an organization mayoffer users the option of customizing their own user information andpresentation in the central server database, so that it appears amongthe organization's information. For example, in an emergency responsesystem embodiment such as eCOOP, a user may add a task of picking upchildren at school to the emergency response task list maintained in theeCOOP database; or the user may be allowed to modify their local copy ofthe task list that was downloaded to their mobile device or homecomputer. As another example, a user may add names and contactinformation of friends and relatives to the contact list maintained aspart of the eCOOP information.

One skilled in the art will recognize that many alternative embodimentsof the scheme shown in FIG. 4 are possible within the scope of theinvention. For example, an organization may restrict the informationthat certain groups of users may view and download. As another example,an organization may limit access for certain groups of users to variouspartitioned areas of the information database, such as an eCOOPdatabase.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an exemplary process consistent with thepresent invention. Such a process may be implemented as a softwareapplication(s) running on conventional data processing system, such as acentral server, on a hardwired system, or as a combination of the two.In the embodiment shown, the process begins by receiving information ona central server (step 510). The information may pertain to any ofseveral categories, such as emergency-response-related information,continuation-of-operation-plan-related information,delivery-schedule-related information, customer-service-call-relatedinformation, sales-call-related information, help-desk-request-relatedinformation or other centrally maintained information that needs to beprovided to remote users in a timely manner. The system implementing theprocess may receive information manually from personnel that maintainthe information or automatically from other systems that maintain orcontribute to the information. The exact manner in which the informationis received and maintained is not critical to the invention. Theinformation may be stored as a database, spreadsheet, word processingfile, organized data collection, or some other data-storing entity. Theexact data-storing entity is not critical to the invention.

Next, the process determines a subset of information that is relevant toeach remote user (step 515). For example, in the case ofcontinuation-of-operations plan information, if the remote user is themanager of a department, the subset of information may include theemergency response procedures for the department, a contact list for thedepartment employees who report to the manager, and an alternative worksite where the department would meet and organize in case of anemergency. It would not include information from other departments otherthan the one that the user manages. As another example, in the case ofcustomer service call information, if the remote user is a servicetechnician the subset of information may include a schedule ofappointments for the day for the remote user, addresses of each customerto be visited by the remote user, a description of the service to beperformed for each customer, and driving directions from one customerlocation to the next. Similar subsets of information may be relevant toan inside service person, such as help desk personnel. As yet anotherexample, in the case of delivery information, if the remote user is adelivery person, the subset of information may include a schedule ofdeliveries for the day for the remote user, addresses of each delivery,a description of the item to be delivered to each customer, and drivingdirections from one delivery location to the next.

The process then downloads to remote users (preferably, each remoteuser) the subset of information relevant to that user (step 520). Thismay be accomplished by downloading to a mobile device associated withthe user, such as a Blackberry™, Palm Pilot™, cellular telephone, laptopcomputer with a wireless network card, laptop computer connected to adesignated website, specialized receiving system in a delivery vehicle,satellite radio, GPS device, or other mobile device associated with theuser that is capable of receiving and storing data.

In step 525, the process determines whether the information on thecentral server has been updated. The information may be updated bypersonnel or systems dedicated to maintaining the information so that itremains accurate and up-to-date. The information may be updated for manyreasons. For example, in the case of continuation-of-operation-planinformation, the information may be updated if emergency responseprocedures change, if the personnel involved with the emergency responseprocedures change, if the personnel contact information changes, orother reasons. As another example, in the case of customer service callinformation including both outside customer services, such as telephonerepair, and inside customer services, such as an IT help desk, theinformation may be updated if a new trouble ticket comes in, a customercalls and cancels a service call, if a new service call is added, if acustomer availability time changes, if another service person phones insick and their calls for the day must be reassigned, or other reasons.As yet another example, in the case of delivery information, theinformation may be updated if a delivery address changes, if a newdelivery is added to the schedule, if an item does not arrive from aprior location in time to be delivered as scheduled, if another deliveryperson calls in sick, if additional delivery persons become available toassist with the day's deliveries, or for other reasons.

If the information on the central server has been updated (step 525,Yes), then the process returns to steps 515 and 520 to determine asubset of information for each user from the updated information, anddownload the relevant updated subset to each user. If, on the otherhand, the information on the central server has not been updated (step525, No), then the process loops to receive updated information on thecentral server as needed (step 530). As noted above, there are numerousreasons that may cause the central server information to be updated.

One of ordinary skill will recognize that steps may be added to, deletedfrom, or modified in the process depicted in FIG. 5 without departingfrom the principles of the invention. For example, steps could be addedto check whether the updated information received in step 530 came froma person authorized to update the information, and if not, to reject theinformation and prevent it from being downloaded to remote users.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process consistent with thepresent invention. Such a process may be implemented as a softwareapplication(s) running on a conventional mobile data processing device,such as a Blackberry™ or laptop computer, as a dedicated hardwiredmobile device, or as a combination of the two. In the embodiment shown,the process first receives information tailored to a user (step 604),such as the subset of information determined in step 515 of FIG. 5. Inthe embodiment shown, the received information is tailored such that itconsists largely or wholly of information relevant to the user fromamong a greater set of information that is relevant to several users oran entire organization. For example, if the user is a delivery person,the information may include only the delivery schedule that must be runby that delivery person, and exclude information concerning the deliveryschedules of other delivery persons in the same organization. In anotherexample, if the user is a department employee, the information mayinclude the specific emergency response procedures to be followed bythat employee in case of a disaster, excluding the emergency responseprocedures of other departments and other employees. In anotherembodiment consistent with the invention, the received information isnot narrowly tailored to the user and contains information beyond theminimum that the user needs to know.

Next, the system running the process stores the information (step 610).In one embodiment, the stored information is retrievable on demand bythe user. For example, if the receiving device is a Blackberry™, it mayrun a custom software application that stores the received informationand allows the user to access it by selecting an icon associated withthe application on the Blackberry's touch screen. Next, the process mayoccasionally receive updated information tailored to the user of thereceiving device (step 615). As noted above with respect to FIG. 5, theinformation may be updated and sent to the user for many differentreasons independent of the user and without the user's knowledge orinput.

The next step of the process stores the updated information (step 620).In one embodiment, the stored updated information is retrievable ondemand by the user.

In the embodiment shown, the process then determines whether it hasreceived a triggering notification (step 625). For example, in thecontext of a continuation-of-operations plan system, the triggeringnotification may be an email, phone call, fax, or other communication ofthe occurrence of a disaster that requires implementation of emergencyresponse procedures. In another example, in the context of a delivery orservice call system, whether inside or outside, the triggeringnotification may be an email, phone call, fax, or other communication ofthe occurrence of a change in delivery or service schedule. In yetanother example, in the context of an inside service call system, thetriggering notification may be an email, phone call, fax, or othercommunication of the occurrence of a new problem being experienced by auser of an organizations IT system.

If the process has not received a triggering notification (step 625,No), then it continues to receive and store updated information for theuser. If the process has received a triggering notification (step 625,Yes), then it presents the stored information to the user (step 630).For example, a mobile device receiving the notification may generate anaudible signal or vibrate and display the stored information on itsscreen after receiving a triggering notification, or it may use voicesynthesis to present the information orally to the user.

One of ordinary skill will recognize that steps may be added to, deletedfrom, or modified in the process depicted in FIG. 6 without departingfrom the principles of the invention. For example, in the case of aneCOOP system, steps could be added to automatically contact, for examplevia email from a mobile device, persons on an emergency response contactlist when a triggering notification is received. For another example,step 630 could be deleted, so that the user would have to manuallyaccess the stored information after receiving a triggering notification.

Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for receiving distributed centralizedemergency response information, the method comprising: receiving, at adevice associated with a user, emergency response information after theemergency response information is updated in a central data storageapparatus, the emergency response information being relevant to the userand transmitted to the user automatically based on access rights of theuser corresponding to a level and an area of responsibility of the user;storing the information locally; and presenting the stored emergencyresponse information to the user.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theemergency response information is a subset of emergency responseinformation from a set of emergency response information regarding anorganization.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the emergency responseinformation includes an emergency response procedure or an updatedportion of an emergency response procedure.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the emergency response information includes instructions, tasks,contact lists, or emergency planning information.
 5. The method of claim4, wherein the instructions include identifying an alternative worksite.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the alternative work site isidentified because of an emergency.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe emergency response information is received periodically regardlessof whether the emergency response information has changed, and whereinthe device is a Blackberry® device, a personal digital assistant, alaptop computer, or a home computer.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinthe method is implemented on a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor inthe device.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the userdownloading the emergency response information on demand.
 10. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: the user updating the emergency responseinformation; and storing the updated emergency response information inthe central data storage apparatus.
 11. A method for providingcentralized management and distribution of emergency responseinformation to users, the method comprising: storing emergency responseinformation regarding an organization and access rights for a pluralityof users to the emergency response information in a central data storageapparatus with the plurality of users collectively having a plurality oflevels and a plurality of areas of responsibility in the organizationand each individually having at least one of the plurality of levels andat least one of the plurality of areas of responsibility in theorganization; accepting an update to the information by the centralapparatus; determining a portion of the information that is relevant toa user and is allowed to be transmitted to the user by the user's accessrights; and transmitting a selected portion of the emergency responseinformation in the central apparatus to the user.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the selected portion of the emergency responseinformation transmitted to the user is a subset of emergency responseinformation from a set of emergency response information correspondingto the user's responsibility in the organization.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the emergency response information includes anemergency response procedure or an updated portion of an emergencyresponse procedure.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the emergencyresponse information includes instructions, tasks, contact lists, oremergency planning information.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein theinstructions include identifying an alternative work site.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the alternative work site is identifiedbecause of an emergency.
 17. The method of claim 11, wherein theemergency response information is transmitted periodically regardless ofwhether the emergency response information has changed.
 18. The methodof claim 11, wherein the method is implemented on a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a programexecutable by a processor in a centralized server that is incommunication with or contains the central data storage apparatus. 19.The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting the emergencyresponse information when demanded by a user.
 20. The method of claim11, wherein the transmitting of the emergency response information isperformed using a wireless communications link.